Securing Competitive Advantage with Machine Learning

Business dynamics are evolving with every passing second. There is no doubt that the competition in today's business world is much more intense than it was a decade ago. Companies are fighting to hold on to any advantages.

Digitalization and the introduction of machine learning into day-to-day business processes have created a prominent structural shift in the last decade. The algorithms have continuously improved and developed.

Every idea that has completely transformed our lives was initially met with criticism. Acceptance is always followed by skepticism, and only when the idea becomes reality does the mainstream truly accept it. At first, data integration, data visualization and data analytics were no different.

Incorporating data structures into business processes to reach a valuable conclusion is not a new practice. The methods, however, have continuously improved. Initially, such data was only available to the government, where they used it to make defense strategies. Ever heard of Enigma?

In the modern day, continuous development and improvement in data structures, along with the introduction of open source cloud-based platforms, has made it possible for everyone to access data. The commercialization of data has minimized public criticism and skepticism.

Companies now realize that data is knowledge and knowledge is power. Data is probably the most important asset a company owns. Businesses go to great lengths to obtain more information, improve the processes of data analytics and protect that data from potential theft. This is because nearly anything about a business can be revealed by crunching the right data.

It is impossible to reap the maximum benefit from data integration without incorporating the right kind of data structure. The foundation of a data-driven organization is laid on four pillars. It becomes increasingly difficult for any organization to thrive if it lacks any of the following features.

Here are the four key elements of a comprehensive data management system:

• Hybrid data management
• Unified governance
• Data science and machine learning
• Data analytics and visualization

Hybrid data management refers to the accessibility and repeated usage of the data. The primary step for incorporating a data-driven structure in your organization is to ensure that the data is available. Then you proceed by bringing all the departments within the business on board. The primary data structure unifies all the individual departments in a company and streamlines the flow of information between those departments.

If there is a communication gap between the departments, it will hinder the flow of information. Mismanagement of communication will result in chaos and havoc instead of increasing the efficiency of business operations.

Initially, strict rules and regulations governed data and restricted people from accessing it. The new form of data governance makes data accessible, but it also ensures security and protection. You can learn more about the new European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law and unified data governance over here in Rob Thomas’ GDPR session.

The other two aspects of data management are concerned with data engineering. A spreadsheet full of numbers is of no use if it cannot be tailored to deduce some useful insights about business operations. This requires analytical skills to filter out irrelevant information. There are various visualization technologies that make it possible and easier for people to handle and comprehend data.

Want to learn more about the topic? Register now to join me at the live session with Hilary Mason, Dez Blanchfield, Rob Thomas, Kate Silverton, Seth Dobrin and Marc Altshuller.

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